Book Description
Treasures Underfoot is the second of two very unique books featuring designs taken from manhole covers found in cities and towns throughout Japan. Intended for quilters, the book includes two versions of each design: a full-color stylized rendition, and a black and white silhouette to aid in pattern design. Also included are beautiful full-color photos of quilts based on the designs, hand-crafted by quilt artists from England, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and the United States.
A variety of historical and cultural information is presented on cities and towns whose designs are featured in the book.
Customer Reviews:
Culturally and artistically rich.......2002-12-31
Several years ago I reviewed the first book of manhole cover quilts, finding it the most unique collection of quilt designs I'd seen in a long time. The premise of that book, and its successor collection, Treasures Underfoot, is the translation of the many municipal manhole covers of Japan into fiber art. The Japanese make something of a fine art of designing coverings for the holes in their streets and sidewalks, and each community takes great pride in its contribution to the genre. MacGregor's extension of the idea was to get these designs off the street and into quilts, and she enlisted the talents of quilters world-wide to assist her. In this beautifully-produced and self-published volume, MacGregor features dozens of new manhole cover designs, along with thumbnails of the communities that created them. Each one is then enriched by interpretation by a quilter and a rendering in fabric. Some of the interpretations try to be true to the original design, while others use elements of the design as inspiration for something new. Either way, the result is beautiful and fascinating. The book does not include projects with detailed instructions, but there is enough information and illustration to make it possible for any quilter who chooses to try her hand at one of these round treasures. And this is one of the best introductions to Japanese culture that I know! Kudos to Shirley MacGregor for making this volume even richer than the last.
Impressively Unique!.......2001-11-04
I also own MacGregor's first book. The quality of the paper in the second book dramatically enhances the presentation of the manhole covers and quilts. Though I am not a quilter, this book can still be appreciated for its artistic and cultural richness. In fact, I have a custom made stain glass piece hanging in my living room, with the design from one of the manhole cover patterns in the first book. I like the geographic descriptions of the cities and towns around Japan, having visited a few in the past. The colors in her book are spectacular, and I love the way she has shown different interpretations of each pattern. All in all, this book makes me want to visit every manhole cover in it!
Book Description
More than 300 evocative photographs of these remarkable relics of New York's architectural heritage.
Book Description
Welcome to Newford. . . .Welcome to the music clubs, the waterfront, the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the grey harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song.Like Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale and John Crowley's Little, Big, Dreams Underfoot is a must-read book not only for fans of urban fantasy but for all who seek magic in everyday life.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-10-05
I've really tried to enjoy this author, and this was my third try. Somehow, nothing he writes engages me on any level - the characters are cliches, the "fantasy" is cartoonish (balloon men? walking boogers? hello?), the stories are poorly structured and lack satisfying resolution, and the foreshadowing is as subtle as a kick in the head. I bought this one because the blurb on my edition compared it to Helprin's "Winter's Tale" and Crowley's "Little, Big". It has as much in common with those great works as a raisin has with a glass of wine. It contains words and is marketed as fantasy - that's where the comparison ends. I could not bring myself to finish the book, a rarity for me. Buyer beware.
A Promise Broken.......2005-01-18
What a great title, laden with the promise of darkness,mystery, surreality... it leads one to expect a fanatasy with a subterranean feel. Unfortunately the book does not live up to the promise its title makes.
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint is an ambitious collection of urban faery stories, all bound together by several common threads and characters. But several factors hold these stories back from being all that they can be.
At first one is enchanted with, if not de Lint's somewhat lackluster prose, at least by the unique themes and plotlines. Unique up until the third or fourth story, that is, when one begins to realize the sad sameness of all these tales. After the first few stories the book becomes a rather tedious read, and one's willingness to forgive de Lint's unremarkable writing style dissipates, like ghosts fleeing daylight.
I can see what de Lint is trying to do with the characters. veiling the extraordinary behind a veneer of ordinariness. Most everyone in the books has brown hair - this seems to be his concept of ordinary. But all the women are pretty and petit - because everyone knows fat bowsers never experience anything supernatural I guess. He's only a little more diverse with the males he portrays; they come off just faintly more realistic than his impossible women. The problem with his characters is not that they are not complex and interesting, its that the devices he uses to make them complex and interesting are so transparent and obvious. One can actually see his formulae for character creation laid out on the page like algebra, and it feels like being cheated.
De Lint flirts a lot with the themes of poverty and homelessness, but he writes it insincerely, romanticizing it shamelessly, and comes off like the proud bearer of white liberal guilt, rather than someone who's been there. I think he wants his ghetto, the 'Tombs', to read like some bitterly cruel otherworld, but it comes off like a series of cardboard cutouts, a rough facade.
It was an interesting enough idea to set his stories in an invented Canadian town. One doesn't see it everyday. But try as he might he never quite manages to make the town seem real enough. And he just doesn't make Canada spooky enough.
Dreams Underfoot is a great idea that would have been better written by someone else.
When asked to name my favourite book ever - THIS is it........2004-11-15
Reading Dreams Underfoot was truly a life-altering experience for me. It shifted my perception of the world around me; suddenly I was seeing magic in the everyday, magic all around in what used to be the most mundane of things.
Another reviewer wrote that Dreams Underfoot is a gift. This could not be more true. Charles de Lint has created a universe parallel to the one in which we live, but he has crafted it so delicately, so skilfully, and so beautifully, that it becomes achingly real to us, the readers.
I have purchased several copes of this book. I feel compelled to lend it to every person I know and love, since it was through a borrowed book that I first read Dreams Underfoot myself. After my personally perchased copy of the book took numerous journeys, it became quite tattered and forlorn, so I purchased another. And when it was leant out on all the occasions I wanted to return to Newford, I decided to purchase a 'stay-at-home' copy, just for me.
I cannot encourage you enough to read this book, and all the Newford tales to follow. If you have ever had a day where you felt the need to reconnect with the beauty and truth and magic that lives both within and outside us - this book contains that spark.
Read this book. It changes everything...
One of the Top Five Books I've Ever Read.......2004-11-01
I'm not usually drawn to collections of short stories. It was entirely on a whim I even picked up this book by an author I had never heard of at the time. It ended up being the book that I insist people to read if they've never read it. I buy copies of this just so I can give it to them. Charles De Lint writes stories that are modern fairy-folk tales, with a twist of 'The Twilight Zone'. Only these stories don't all end with a happily ever after, which feels right. It makes you want to read the next collection of short stories by him, just to see how their life continues to unfold. It's about the journey, not the destination.
Impossible Possibilities.......2004-08-11
Charles de Lint is a creator of unique stories that mix fantasy with urban legends; featuring the outcasts, oddballs, eccentrics, and the unfortunate of the fictitious city of Newford, which curiously has familiar aspects of both New England and the Pacific Northwest (in my somewhat well-traveled opinion). Thus, engagingly human characters and settings interact with the whimsical spirits and creatures of classic fantasy writing, with the running theme being that only those who truly believe can see the other side of reality. A nice gimmick is that some of these stories are supposedly from the mind of fictitious writer Christy Riddell, who is constructed as de Lint's fantasy world alter-ego, so you are sometimes transported into the imaginations of both the author and the characters.
The stories range from the whimsical, such as a street kid setting the spirits of bicycles free, to several tales of abused and unloved children turning to other realms of belief for support (offering some unexpectedly chilling or shocking moments from de Lint), to tales of lost loves and quests to find one's inner strengths. This collection of inter-related short stories centered on the mystically-minded residents of Newford does suffer from some inconsistency. Some stories such as "Romano Drom" or "The Sacred Fire" (among others) suffer from poor plot development, with a lot of all-of-a-sudden's and from-out-of-nowhere's. Some of the characters are so whimsical, eccentric, and kind-hearted that they stretch the bounds of believability; while the recurring themes of hope and belief get a bit heavy-handed. However, de Lint has created his own very unique world(s) of fantasy, for readers looking for creative and offbeat mysticism. [~doomsdayer520~]
Average customer rating:
- Fine Italian Shoes and Knitted Baby Booties
- Good enough
- 2 1/2 stars. More sex than romance
- Underfoot--Joyfully Recommended Read
- Awesome second in the Bellagio series
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Underfoot
Leanne Banks
Manufacturer: HQN Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0373770529 |
Book Description
Another flirty tale of fun and fabulous footwear from the gals of Bellagio, Inc.!
Bellagio, Inc. public relations genius Trina Roberts had been a bad, bad girl when she'd gone to bed with a recently jilted groom and wound up pregnant. She knew Walker Gordon wasn't looking for forever -- at least not with her. So when he took a job overseas, she sort of neglected to tell him about the baby on the way.
Well, now he's back . . . and he's just figured out the truth.
Walker had been reeling from a very public breakup when Trina had offered solace he couldn't deny. He'd never expected the result would make him somebody's daddy! Trina claimed not to need anything from him, but he was determined that his child have a father; he just didn't know if it should be him. Because a father's shoes . . . well, those he wasn't sure he could fill.
Customer Reviews:
Fine Italian Shoes and Knitted Baby Booties.......2007-02-11
Trina Roberts, the Public Relations star of Bellagio footwear, comforts jilted groom Walker Gordon over a few too many Mojitos. Nine months later, Trina is the happy mother a cute carrot top daughter --- until Walker returns from Paris. Trina is determined to hide Maddie's paternity rather than to be saddled into marriage with a man who wants nothing to do with fatherhood. Waker is just as determined to find this cute baby a father and arranges a series of hilarious dates for Trina.
The messy comedy that ensues is even more funny than than the green spit-up Maddie adds to Trina's elegant gown. These professionals thought they had their lives all planned and under control, but all it took was one red-haired baby to turn everything upside down and instill in them real courage.
A fun, frolicking Contemporary Romance! The romance is as steamy as the Atlanta Bellagio office on a summer day --- and as delightfully humorous as life ought to be.
No thanks on Bellagio three inch heels from this reader but I will take a Leanne Banks Bellagio Romance any day.
Good enough.......2007-01-31
First of all let me tell you that this book could be or not the second one of the series. You won't read anything from the first book but the characters. The second important think is that Trina's ex husband plot is lame in everything and at the end you won't know why he disappeared.
In the other hand the book'll keep you reading and having a merry time and that is great while reading a book. I think Trina's story could be very real in everything that happened to her.
2 1/2 stars. More sex than romance.......2007-01-04
From the back cover:
Bellagio, Inc, public relations genius Trina Roberts had been a bad, bad girl when she'd gone to bed with a recently jilted groom and wound up pregnant. She knew Walker Gordon wasn't looking for forever--at least not with her. So when he took a job overseas, she sort of neglected to tell him about the baby on the way.
Well, now he's back...and he's figured out the truth.
Walker had been reeling from a very public breakup when Trina had offered solace he couldn't deny. He'd never expected the result would make him somebody's daddy! Trina claimed not to need anything from him, but he was determined that his child have a father; he just didn't know if it should be him. Because a father's shoes...well, those he wasn't sure he could fill.
And my review:
First off, I'll state that while this book is part of a series, it also works as a stand-alone. I was never left feeling lost.
I'll admit that I came into reading this book feeling a bit jaded. I don't really like the "one-night stands that magically turn into love theme" much, but I decided to push past that and give this book a try.
And the first half was really enjoyable. Leanne Banks has an easy-to-read flowing style, sprinkled with humor and real-life moments. I also liked how the heroine decided to keep her baby, even if she had been a surprise, and how much she truly loved her child. Many women in the same situation would have been very resentful of an accidental baby, but the heroine wasn't. I also liked that the heroine refused to let her domineering mother take over her life. After reading so many "weak heroine" books, this was a welcome change.
I also liked that the hero was more than willing to own up to his responsiblities. Though he wasn't prepared to be a father to his daughter, his reasons were actually pretty unselfish. He truly believed that he'd be a bad father. But he was determined to find a father figure for his little girl, it just wouldn't be him.
However, after this promising beginning, I kind of felt that it went downhill. I couldn't really see why, apart from blazing lust, the hero and heroine should be together. Being good in bed together is not a solid basis for a lasting relationship. Yes, sexual attraction is necessary for a good romance, but it can't be the only thing pulling the hero and heroine together. That felt like the case here. Seriously, nothing but memories of their hot night of multiple sexual encounters was drawing the characters together. I need something more real than just flying hormones if I'm going to cheer for a couple to be together.
With a little more character development, and a more concrete relationship between the hero and heroine, I might have really enjoyed this book. As it was, I felt rather short-changed. I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't recommend UNDERFOOT.
Underfoot--Joyfully Recommended Read.......2006-08-21
Trina Roberts has been attracted to Walker Gordon for a very long time. Since he was engaged to be married to the boss's granddaughter, she never thought that he'd ever notice her. When Walker is jilted at the altar, a little too much alcohol and sympathy ends up in a one-night stand with long reaching consequences. In order to get over his humiliation, Walker heads to Paris for a year--little knowing that his one night with Trina has left him with daughter; a daughter he meets when he finally returns. The one thing in his life that Walker never intended to be, was a father, but slowly both Trina and his daughter begin to find their way into his heart.
Underfoot is perfect reading. Fun, yet sensual with a depth of feeling that left me feeling completely satisfied. Walker is the kind of hero I love, yummy but with issues that made me want to take him for my own. His initial hesitation when he meets his daughter shows, but it quickly passes and his doubts only made me care more about him as a character. Trina is a woman who is independent and more than happy to take care of her daughter on her own, but throughout I could feel the yearning she has for Walker. Underfoot kept me up late, unable to stop until I reached the end. I can't say too much more because I don't want to give away anymore of this story that should be a must read for romance lovers. Underfoot is wonderful book that is sure to keep you flipping the pages.
Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
Awesome second in the Bellagio series.......2006-08-14
Bellagio Shoes PR whiz Trina Roberts finds herself comforting jilted groom Walker Gordon, who was publicly humiliated when he was left at the altar by bridezilla Brooke Tarantino. He confides to Trina that the main reason he was marrying Brooke is their shared desire not to have children, since his childhood was marred with an inept and absent father. Far too many mojitos results in a night of passion neither remembers completely. Nine month later, Trina is giving birth to the wedding favor she received on his wedding night, while he is off in Paris concentrating his advertising efforts on the European market.
When Trina finds herself arriving late to a hastily called meeting, she comes face to face with the father of her child for the first time in 15 months. She holds him at arm's length, which confuses Walker since he knows that they had a consensual one night stand. But forced to work in close proximity, Walker soon is privy to Trina's secret, and though he has no intentions of making any claims on the child, he will provide financially. Trina, ever the independent woman wants nothing to do with his money. What she finds is that she wants his heart.
Banks fantastic sequel to "Feet First" maintains the magic and chemistry of its predecessor. Unplanned pregnancy is usually a trite plot device, but in Banks' very capable hands, it is elevated to a charming story laced with witty dialog and lots of sensuality. Followed up by "Footloose" which features Bellagio secretary Amelia.
Customer Reviews:
Playwright describes her early life in NY.......2004-09-29
This witty, touching memoir tells the story of Helene Hanff's attempt to "crash the theater". It is as entertaining and charming as her great book, 84 Charing Cross Road
A lesson in the possibilities of humor.......2004-02-18
I stumbled across Helene Hanff in a place no devout reader should ever be--a video store. After watching '84 Charing Cross Road' I was enchanted with Miss Hanff's wit and humor, and needed more. After an arduous search, I found a used copy of 'Underfoot...' and read it in less than 2 days. I even found myself laughing aloud at parts, which greatly disturbed the people sitting next to me. Hanff's ability to laugh at herself and to extract the humor from any situation is addictive. The book begins with a note to the reader: 'Each year, hundreds of stagestruck kids arrive in New York determined to crash the theatre, firmly convinced they're destined to be famous Broadway stars or playwrights. One in a thousand turns out to be Noel Coward. This book is about life among the other 999. By one of them.' From there, Miss Hanff takes the reader on a tour of her adventures and experiences as a struggling playwright in an honest and spirited manner. I was left wishing that my life was as unpredictable and ironic as Miss Hanff's struggle to live her dreams.
Broadway misadventures.......2004-01-09
Helene Hanff published this, her first book, in 1961. She shares stories from her years as a struggling playwright in New York City; her good friend Maxine was a struggling actress. Practically penniless, they still managed to see first-run shows and movies regularly. How they did it is one of many memorable and funny tales.
I couldn't help laughing at the merry-go-round of a Broadway agent shopping a play all over town. Ms. Hanff tells how 'Oklahoma!' was named (she was there). One of her many jobs involved speed-reading long novels; her take on Tolkein is slightly different than Peter Jackson's.
I echo a previous reviewer's thought: this book would make a terrific film. 'Underfoot in Show Business' is a gem, a memoir full of magic and wit. Highly recommended.
This one is a classic!.......2001-01-16
I first heard of this book 20 years ago, in a letter to the editor in Seventeen Magazine. The letterwriter was distantly related to Helene Hanff and was recommending the book. At the time, I was deeply involved in my high school drama program and the title of the book appealed to me. I tried for years to find the book, but it was out of print for a time. When I did finally find it, it was worth the wait. It is laugh-out-loud funny and touching to anyone who has ever been bitten by the drama bug. I was sold on the book the minute I read the preface, which reads in part, "Each year hundreds of of stage-struck kids arrive in New York determined to crash the theatre...one in a thousand turns out to be Noel Coward. This book is about life among the other 999, by one of them." This book turned me on to all of Helene Hanff's other books, each of which is worthwhile in its own right. However, the best of the bunch is right here. This book should be on every booklover's must have list!
Truly, this is the funniest book you'll ever read........2000-07-01
I once had to read a bit of this book out to some strangers on a plane who wanted to know why I was laughing out loud and then we had champagne and it was a great flight and Miss Hanff had even more fans. The tears were running down our faces. [ For those of you who have read it already it was the bit about the funeral parlour].
This book, like all of Miss Hanff's works, makes you feel great to be alive.
I've come to love my native city more and more by seeing it through Miss Hanff's eyes.
Product Description
Reading the rocks like pages in a book, Geology Underfoot in Southern California offers an inside view of the southland's active and sometimes enigmatic landscape. Twenty vignettes each weave a geologic story of a particular scene, relationship, or feature. Some spotlight well-known landmarks, while others describe subtle relationships among the earth's awesome forces. Together these snapshots introduce readers to southern California's rich, dynamic, and even flamboyant geology.
Customer Reviews:
A good beginning guide for a new geologist.......2007-07-18
A nice guide if you plan on going out into the field and exploring the world around you. It inspired me to get out of the car and do more walking so I could see geology at work for myself. If you were just looking for a book to explain geological places and processes in California it probably would not suffice. I would compare it to a travel book about the hidden places in a certain area rather than a general guide.
Excellent introduction to the geology of the area.......2007-03-12
This well-prepared and engaging work provides an excellent way for the layman to appreciate points of geological interest in the area. The style is approachable and seeks to simplify, without over-simplifying, and to solicit the reader to use his or her imagination. It is well researched and practical, giving no problems finding places, parking and so on. This book is recommended.
Like Rocks? Wonder about the Landscape?.......2002-01-15
This book has triggered day-trips & camping expeditions in our family. I've had the pleasure of leading my children and their friends to moments of discovery and learning & shared wonder and beauty with my father--all based on this book.
It starts with a six page description of SoCal's geological history, then jumps into 20 sites of interest. A glossary, "Sources of Supplementary Information," and an index round out the book.
Each site receives its own chapter, replete with photographs, maps, geological diagrams, and even driving directions, as needed. I'm not a serious geologist, but landscape features fascinate me. The explanations that the authors give work well for me: I can understand them well enough to explain them to children.
If you're interested in how the land has been shaped, if you're willing to turn off the tube & make contact with the natural world, then this book is for you. One of the best "field guides" to geology I own. One of my favorites, too. (The companion volume, GEOLOGY UNDERFOOT IN DEATH VALLEY AND OWENS VALLEY, is also an excellent book).
(If you'd like to dialog more about this book or review, click on the "about me" link above & drop me an email. Thanks!)
Excellent, but different from "Roadside" series.......1999-02-06
If you've used the "Roadside Geology of..." series, this is a bit different. It's more of a "sites of interest" type of book. It lists 20 sites in the southern California area, from Mammoth Lakes out to the coast, and south to Needles and San Diego. The sites are wonderfully explained, with aerial photos, illustrations, and maps. This is definitely aimed at the casual tourist, with very little knowledge of geology necessary. As a professional Geologist, it's one of those books I'd give a non-Geologist friend.
Excellent reading for the amateur or layperson geologist........1997-08-27
This is one of the best designed books of it's kind. Full of maps created by the author to help the reader locate interesting sites described along with easy to understand explanations of the covered material. Makes geology fun for all
Customer Reviews:
Urban fantasy at its very best.......2004-12-21
This collection of stories is both moving and profound. Fairytales for grown ups touching on everything from the creatures of the wild wood and city scapes to the majic of the southwest. Jilly Coppercorn, Sophie and the others come to life with each and every page. Charles de Lint writes from the perspective of the female mind exceptionally well! And I find myself revisiting the wonderful, frightning and often delightful town of Newford more and more often......... Highly recommended for anyone who loves good stories with a common thread.
Book Description
In 1974 Joel and Kate Kopp were guest curators for the ground-breaking and very popular exhibition of hooked rugs held at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York. In that exhibition and in this book, first published in 1975, then expanded and reissued in 1985, the Kopps brought a new eye to the field and showed how the primitive imagery that appears in these rugs often parallels other categories of folk art. With over 230 illustrations, over half of them in color, the authors trace the development of the hooked rug, from its origins in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century yarn-sewn bed rugs to twentieth-century examples of hooked rugs.
A beautifully illustrated history of the hooked rug.
Product Description
Eastern California boasts the greatest dryland relief in the contiguous United States, between 14,499-foot Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada and minus-282-foot Badwater Basin in Death Valley. That relief offers a rich variety of environments--and spectacular geology. Through driving and walking tours, Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley provides an on-the-ground look at the processes sculpting the terrain in this land of extremes. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and diagrams, each geological vignette weaves the tale of a particular scene, feature, or relationship in the landscape. Some sketches ponder questions that have puzzled geologists: what formed the turtlebacks in the Black Mountains and how do stones mysteriously slide on desolate Racetrack Playa? Others spotlight the role of volcanoes and earthquakes as landscape artists: the superb lava columns of Devil's Postpile, the massive steam explosion at Ubehebe Crater, and fault scarps that shape a golf course's greens. Still others focus on less obvious but equally powerful geologic processes: boulders shattered by salt crystals and rocks blasted by windblown sand. Together, these snapshots introduce readers to eastern California's rich, dynamic geology.
Customer Reviews:
Invaluable Info for Locals and Travellers.......2004-05-04
Great to take along any drive through the area. Have your passenger read as you go, stop along the way for a closer look. Easy to read, not too "intellectual". This was my favorite guide to the area when I moved here (and still is)!
Thoroughly Intriguing!.......2002-06-27
The southwest United States is a geomorphologist's dream... There's not a lot of green stuff covering up the beautiful geology! This book details the geologic features of Death and Owens Valley, CA. It gives the geologic history of features while succinctly describing the details of the processes that brought about these features. The Tufa Pinnacles in Searles Valley, the alluvial fans in Death Valley, the interesting history and development of Gower Gulch, the mysterious ascent of desert pavement, the glacial morraines and routes of the Tahoe and Tioga Stade glaciers at Convict Lake, the Mono Craters (Domes), Fossil Falls, the Alabama Hills and more. You'll even get the heebee jeebees when you read about the monstrous explosion of Ubehebe Crater! Certainly one of the most interesting and pleasurable books I've read in ages! Highly recommended for ANYONE who plans a trip to California's awe-inspiring Death Valley and environs! A must have!
Wonderful Ticket to Adventure.......2002-01-18
Most years we vacation in Mammoth. This book describes a number of convenient and interesting side trips to take with the family. We wander around, sometimes visiting the same features, sometimes visiting a new site. Always appreciating more & more of the world around us. My children have a much better feel for geological processes and their impact on the landscape than do their peers.
The book starts with a five page description of Eastern California's geological history, then jumps into 30 sites of interest, nearly evenly distributed between Death Valley & vicinity and the Eastern Sierra & vicinity. A glossary, "Sources of Supplementary Information," and an index round out the book.
Each site receives its own chapter, replete with photographs, maps, geological diagrams, and even driving directions, as needed. I'm not a serious geologist, but landscape features fascinate me. The explanations that the authors give work well for me: I can understand them well enough to explain them to children.
If you're interested in how the land has been shaped, if you're willing to turn off the tube & make contact with the natural world, then this book is for you. One of the best "field guides" to geology I own. One of my favorites, too. (The companion volume, GEOLOGY UNDERFOOT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, is also an excellent book).
A fascinating read.......2002-01-10
I've always had an interest in geology, but have had only a little formal education in the subject. I've also been to Death Valley and Owens Valley a few dozen times. The accuracy and attention to detail in this book along with the vivid descriptions often made me feel like I was back there as I read. On more than one occasion, I could replay what I had seen when I was out there as I read (in some cases picturing things that I had hardly taken notice of when physically there). The many photographs and diagrams also helped immensely. The occasional touchs of humor made reading fun, and it being a series of vignettes, it's easy to cover a chapter in a short time and not worry about setting it down until later. I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in geology and how the area got to be what it is today, and you don't have to be an expert to enjoy the book.
an eye for detail.......2000-01-19
If you have visited these regions before and wondered how the land came to be shaped as it is, then this book gives you many of the answers. Written for the informed amateur the book's clear text, informative black and white photos, and route information combine to give the reader more insight into the form of the land and how it came to be that way over geological time. My own experience of the desert is that slow erosion takes place continually but is punctuated by minor and major catastrophes; once passable roads become washed out, rivers change course, and gravel beds change by feet of depth in the space of a single storm. The account of wind/ice/mud-moved rocks at Racetrack in Death Valley National Park is the best essay in this collection but all of the chapters have fascinating content. Your appreciation of landscape will change for the better if you take this book with you on your next desert adventure.
Product Description
Two short stories "Lord of the Dance" and "This House". "This House" first appeared in the anthology "Stars" edited by Janis Ian. This is the first appearance of "Lord of the Dance".
Customer Reviews:
Description of Item since Amazon took it down.......2006-01-18
Two short stories "Lord of the Dance" and "This House". "This House" first appeared in the anthology "Stars" edited by Janis Ian. This is the first appearance of "Lord of the Dance".
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- Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
- Wizard Twins: Menage a Magick (Book 1)
- Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter
- Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond
- A Kingdom of Dreams
- A Perfect Hero
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Enchanted April
- Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
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- Female Nudes
- History: Fiction or Science
- Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians, Second Edition
- Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1765
- Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green
- Biotechnology of VA Mycorrhiza ; Indian Scenario
Quilting With Manhole Covers - A Treasure Trove of Unique Designs from the Streets of Japan
Quilting in the Morning Calm: Floral Delights from Ancient Korea
Kake-Jiku: Images of Japan in Applique, Fabric Origami, and Sashiko
Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match
Casting Shadows: Creating Visual Dimension in Your Quilts
